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HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - Planning & Zoning Minutes 12/06/2017 MINUTES CITY OF AMES PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION [*Absent] MAJOR TOPICS DISCUSSED: 1. Public Hearing for the Planned Residence District Rezoning and Major Site Development Plan for property at 398 So. 500th Avenue and west of 5508 Lincoln Way (Trinitas Development) __________________________________________________________________________ CALL TO ORDER: Debra Lee, Chairperson, called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: MOTION: (W annemuehler/Converse) to approve the Agenda for the meeting of December 6, 2017. MOTION PASSED: (7 - 0) APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF NOVEMBER 15, 2017: MOTION: (Ragaller/Bowers) to approve the Minutes of the meeting of November 15, 2017. MOTION PASSED: (7 - 0) ____________________________________________________________________________ PUBLIC FORUM: There were no public comments. ____________________________________________________________________________ PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE PLANNED RESIDENCE DISTRICT REZONING AND MAJOR SITE DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR PROPERTY AT 398 SO. 500TH AVENUE AND WEST OF 5508 LINCOLN WAY (TRINITAS DEVELOPMENT) Julie Gould, Case Planner, stated that the Planning & Zoning Commission heard this request at its May 17, 2017 meeting. She stated that the applicant is requesting to rezone the property from Agricultural to Planned Residence District (PRD). Ms. Gould outlined the area on a map. She stated that the applicant has made several small changes since the initial request. Ms. Gould reviewed details of the City Council’s action that was taken on this request. She stated that the Preliminary Plat does not need to come back to the Planning and Zoning Commission as none of the proposed changes affect the Preliminary Plat. Ms. Gould stated that the Zoning Text Amendment, that was heard earlier, may no longer be required due to the City’s impending rental occupancy changes. She stated that most of the changes occur in the southeast corner of the site. Ms. Gould reviewed the proposed changes in this area to the buildings, parking, and the landscaping. She reviewed the number of attached dwelling houses and apartment buildings. Ms. Gould stated that the floor plans were updated after the staff report was prepared. She stated that she will need to confirm the number of total units with the developer. Kelly Diekmann, Planning Director, asked for clarification of the number of units after the floor plans were updated. Ms. Gould stated that there are 263 units and 870 beds. Anuprit Minhas asked for the current bedroom count. Ms. Gould stated that 870 beds should be correct. Mr. Diekmann stated that the parking table is driving the totals for the site. Ms. Gould stated some of the information in the staff report refers to the number of units and beds listed in the May 2017 staff report prior to the floor plans being changed. Carlton Basmajian asked if the addition of four apartment buildings, in place of some of the duplex units, generated the need for the changes presented tonight. Ms. Gould stated that that is correct. She stated that a PRD requires site plan approval. Yvonne Wannemuehler asked if the only available parking is in the driveway. Ms. Gould stated there is a traditional parking lot in the area of the apartment buildings. She stated that the remaining parking is off of the private drives. Mr. Diekmann stated that essentially everything that is not a public street is a parking lot drive aisle with 90 degree parking spaces. Ms. Wannemuehler asked if there are garages. Mr. Diekmann stated that there is no covered parking within the development. Rob Bowers asked about the memo that the Commission received regarding workforce housing. Mr. Diekmann stated that staff will let the applicant address this reference. Ms. Minhas asked if the storm water drainage plan is the same plan that the Commission reviewed during the May 2017 meeting. Ms. Gould stated that there have been a few minor changes to address the apartment buildings. She stated that conditions listed in Alternative 1 are different than what the Commission reviewed in May. Ms. Gould stated that they are the alternatives that were listed in the Council Action Form. Mr. Diekmann stated that the approach to the storm water design has been accepted by Public Works. He stated that there are off-site features that need to be permitted through other agencies. Mr. Diekmann stated that other agencies will need to sign off before construction begins. Ms. Minhas asked if there are any other site constraints, other than a dip on the property, that affect the project’s layout on the property. Mr. Diekmann stated that it is primarily guided by staff’s early input about where to connect the streets and the need to locate storm water in the depression on the property. Travis Vencel, Trinitas, stated that the project has been renamed to The One On Lincoln Way. He stated that it is a 32 acre parcel on Lincoln Way on the west side of Ames. Mr. Vencel stated that due to Iowa State University’s enrollment increase there is a need for additional housing of different types in Ames. He stated that they want to construct duplexes and apartments. Mr. Vencel stated that Trinitas owns and manages their properties. He stated that they do sell things because of the value they have created. Mr. Vencel stated that their buyers are typically institutional buyers that continue to operate the property in the way that they have designed. He stated that they will have 217 units and 864 beds based on the current floor plans. Mr. Vencel stated that they have received input asking them to increase the landscaping, that they needed product differential, and housing that is not focused exclusively on students. He stated that they are proposing a policy to first market this property to those that are not full-time students and described how they plan to do so. Mr. Vencel stated that the buildings have been moved further back from the east property line and that they also plan to increase the landscaping in this area. He showed photos of the exterior of the types of buildings that they would construct. Mr. Vencel stated that they are committed to paving and improving a section of South 500th Avenue. He reviewed the drainage improvements that they will make. Mr. Vencel stated that not only will they handle all of their drainage requirements on-site but they will also improve some drainage off-site. He stated that they will also be making some improvements to Lincoln Way as well as adding a sidewalk in this area. Mr. Vencel stated that they plan to leave the existing trees along the fence row. He stated that they will also add additional buffering between this property and some of the existing properties. Mr. Vencel stated that there will be a shared use path on the property that will connect to the existing path. He stated that they are committed to building the public road improvements to CyRide’s requirements in case CyRide extends their service to this area. Mr. Vencel reviewed the location of their amenity space. Debra Lee asked which style of housing will be marketed to students and which one will be marketed to non-students. Mr. Vencel stated that the townhomes in the southeast corner of the property will be marketed to non-students. He stated that they estimate that about 15 percent of their residents are not traditional students. Mr. Basmajian asked for clarification about the memo that the Commission received yesterday that stated that 23 units had been reserved for workforce housing. Mr. Vencel stated that the memo should have said 46 units, 89 bedrooms, four buildings. Mr. Basmajian asked what changes have been made to this request since the City Council denied the request. Mr. Vencel stated that the project was not denied but the vote did not move the request forward. He stated that Council did not indicate what needed to be changed to receive a positive vote at the meeting. Mr. Vencel stated that they have since met with City Council members and identified the issues of landscaping, diversity of product and housing that was not exclusively for students. Mr. Basmajian asked if the Council members mentioned location and accessibility to transit and density on the fringe. Mr. Vencel stated that they did not. Mr. Basmajian stated that those two issues were listed in the City Council minutes. Mr. Vencel stated that they cannot change the location. He stated that they are continuing to have conversations with CyRide. Mr. Vencel stated that they are committed to private shuttles until CyRide extends their service to this property. Mr. Basmajian stated that ISU enrollment has decreased by approximately 350 students. Ms. Wannemuehler asked how many beds are in the cottage style units. Mr. Vencel stated they are a combination of three, four and five bedroom units. Douglas Ragaller asked if the shuttle service would still be available. Mr. Vencel stated that they have increased the number of shuttles that they will provide from two to three. He reviewed the hours of operation of the shuttle service. Ms. Minhas asked if CyRide would have a concern about the use of private shuttles. Mr. Diekmann stated that there is no condition about requiring shuttle service. He stated that CyRide prefers that residents not be obligated to ride private transit systems. Mr. Vencel stated that they have had conversations with CyRide but they have not had conversations with Iowa State University. Ms. Minhas asked how CyRide feels about the shuttle service. Mr. Vencel stated that CyRide prefers that they not feel obligated to provide shuttle service because if they end up providing bus service it becomes a conflict. Mr. Diekmann stated that CyRide does not want the City to require that a developer provide a shuttle service. Ms. Minhas asked about disqualification of students for certain types of housing. Mr. Vencel stated that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has a program for Section 42 properties that states that students cannot live in those properties and be classified as low income. He stated that HUD goes on to say that there are ways to disqualify someone from being a student. Mr. Diekmann stated that students are not a protected class and you can have rental preferences. He stated that most federal programs have prohibitions generally against full-time students taking advantage of affordable housing programs. Mr. Diekmann stated that they are trying to take advantage of those definitions to describe how they would go about managing who they would find to be eligible for their workforce housing units. Mr. Vencel outlined their definition of a student. Ms. Lee asked for the rationale of identifying the townhome style design units for the non- student qualification versus the duplex style. Mr. Vencel stated that they feel that there is a greater desire for one, two and three bedroom units to fit this demographic. He stated that the townhome product allows them to build and rent one and two bedroom units more efficiently. Ms. Lee asked what experience the applicant’s company has with marketing and managing their properties to non-students. Mr. Vencel stated that their company has a lot of non-students living at their properties. He stated that because of Fair Housing they do not ask their residents if they are students. Mr. Vencel stated that at most of their projects they have between eight and twelve percent of their residents that are not full-time students. He stated that it is not a lot different marketing to non-students. Mr. Vencel stated that the units designated for non-students will probably not be leased as furnished. He stated that many times they have their own furniture. Ms. Lee asked how their marketing will vary when marketing to non-students. Mr. Vencel stated that the dates of the leases may vary, the units may be unfurnished, and they are having discussions as to whether cable and internet will be provided. He stated that they have found that many of their non-student residents at their other properties are leasing from them because they used to be students five years ago and they like the product they offer. Ms. Minhas asked what the motivation was to design private drives with on-street parking as opposed to on-site parking. Mr. Vencel stated that the perpendicular style of parking is an efficient way to park cars. He stated that you can have more green space on your site using this style of parking rather than on-street parking or a parking lot. Ms. Minhas asked for clarification of the exterior stairways on the townhome units. Mr. Vencel reviewed how the stairways connect to the various units. Ms. Lee asked for clarification on the number of beds in the townhomes and the cottage style duplex. Mr. Vencel stated that there will be a total of 864 beds. He stated that there will be 89 bedrooms in the townhomes. He stated that their policy is to rent to one person per bedroom except in one bedroom units where they allow two people. Ms. Lee asked for clarification of the term institutional buyers that have purchased some of their properties. Mr. Vencel described that institutional buyers understand the product and manage it in the same way as they manage their properties. He stated that the hands on management and the services that they provide are instrumental in their getting the rent that they get which equates value. Mr. Vencel stated in some circumstances an institutional buyer will require that the employees become their employees if they purchase the property. Scott Renaud, FOX Engineering, stated that he is the civil engineer working on this site. Rob Bowers stated that some of the residents in the College Creek area have concerns that this project will impact their property. He stated that the property owners that live between Frost Drive and Norris Street in this area already have problems with storm water along College Creek. Mr. Renaud stated that this approximately 30 acre site is only a portion of the 900 acres upstream that drains into this area. He stated that the majority of that property is agricultural land located in Boone County. Mr. Renaud stated that they really can’t do a lot about what happens on the agricultural land. He stated that they will have storage on-site and will be doing some things off-site that are not needed for this project. Mr. Renaud stated that they will probably be doing two or three times more than what they are required to do. Mr. Bowers stated that the area to the east and the west of this property is covered by a drainage district. He stated that the property owners in that area are assessed for their portion of the drainage district. Mr. Bowers asked if they have taken the impacts to the drainage district into consideration. Mr. Renaud stated that some of the drainage district pipe will be taken out of service and that area will now be maintained by Trinitas. He stated that they are actually reducing the cost to the drainage district. Mr. Bowers asked if this property will be removed from the drainage district. Mr. Renaud stated that they have presented this to the drainage district; however, the legal mechanics to have the property removed from the drainage district will be difficult. He stated that ideally they would like to discontinue the drainage district at the Boone County/Story County line. Mr. Renaud stated that if this were to occur the agricultural property would be maintained by the drainage district and property that is removed would be maintained by the City or by the developer. He stated that this drainage district is a subsurface district, not a channel district. Mr. Renaud stated that flooding issues in this area are not covered by the drainage district. He stated that its purpose is to only provide subsurface drainage for tile. Sallie Nostwich, 5422 Frost Drive, stated that she has lived at this address since 1994. She feels that what it comes down to with this project is need. Ms. Nostwich stated that she has not spoken to anyone that says that what Ames needs is more apartments. She stated that this property is located on the fringe. Ms. Nostwich reviewed her concerns: response time for the fire department, drainage and runoff, pollution and garbage, condition of existing apartment buildings after five years or more post construction, additional number of beds, increased traffic, the location of the shared use path and its connectivity to an existing path, and lack of a sidewalk along Lawrence Avenue. Paula Curran, 5461 Frost Drive, expressed her concerns regarding drainage, traffic, need for rental units or housing units, and the location of parking within the development. George Belitsos, 5508 West Lincoln Way, stated that he and his husband have owned most of this property for 31 years. He stated that he is in favor of this project because it is different than what has been offered previously. Mr. Belitsos stated that these units are individual townhomes that look very much like a neighborhood. He stated that they have been approached by other developers about purchasing this property to build apartment buildings; and, they turned them down because they didn’t want to see those built on this property. Mr. Belitsos listed the reasons why he feels that this project would be good for this area. He stated that this is not an apartment project. John Crane, 632 No. 500th Avenue, stated that he owns the other parcel to the west of this property and has lived there for over 50 years. He stated that drainage has always been an issue in this area. Mr. Crane stated that he feels that what the applicant is proposing to do will help the drainage in the area. He stated that the bypass to the west ,off of U.S. Highway 30, produces a lot of storm water runoff. Mr. Crane stated that land was purchased by the Federal Highway Commission in the sixties to widen Lincoln Way to the county line, if needed. He stated that he feels that this project is unique and different than a typical apartment complex. Public Hearing closed at 8:23 p.m. Mr. Basmajian asked how many new apartments will be coming on-line in the next six to twelve months. Mr. Diekmann stated that building permits have been issued for 1,200 apartment bedrooms to be finished next year. He stated that there are pending approvals for another 1,200 bedrooms that may obtain building permits possibly the following year. Mr. Diekmann stated that in the last three years approximately 1,100 beds a year have been coming on-line. Mr. Ragaller stated that he has been a part of conversations where the concern that has been raised is the shortage of housing for 25-35 year olds. Ms. Lee stated that she is concerned about the proportional allocation of the number of bedrooms in the three, four and five bedroom units. Discussion was held as to how many five bedroom units are planned in this project. Mr. Basmajian stated that he feels that there is a demand for housing but that it is not this project. He stated that he feels that the supply is not meeting the demand of the workforce. Ms. Lee stated that she has a concern that this project will not pull students out of the single family neighborhoods around Campus. Mr. Basmajian stated that he feels that this property is a bad location for a high density project due to the lack of access to transit on the edge of town. MOTION: (Ragaller/Converse) to accept Alternative #1, which states: that the Planning and Zoning Commission recommends that the City Council approve the following requests for the properties at 398 South 500th Avenue and the adjacent east parcel: A. Rezone the properties from Agriculture (A) to Planned Residential District (F- PRD) with a Medium Density Base Zone; and B. Approval of the Major Site Development Plan, subject to the following conditions: i. Approval of final plat for creation of the proposed lots as depicted on the site plan in relation to the preliminary plat. ii. Recording of easements for public utilities as noted on the site plan. iii. Prior to occupancy of the first building, provide an updated landscaping plan for front yard landscaping along Lincoln Way and 500th Avenue consisting of a mix of trees, shrubs, and grasses as “foundation plantings” with final approval by the Planning Director. iv. Ensure existing landscaping and fencing is preserved and maintained and if removed that is replaced. v. Replacement landscaping or fencing along the perimeter of the site is subject to the review of the Planning Director to ensure adequate screening is accomplished in accordance with existing conditions and the City’s landscape buffer standards. vi. Upon final approval of the Stormwater Management Plan, a complete printed copy of the Plan shall be submitted to the Municipal Engineer. vii. Drainage District tile line utilized by the development shall be the maintenance responsibility of the developer and not the City. viii. Prior to initiating development of the site, the developer shall provide evidence of approval by affected agencies relating to storm water improvements both on-site and off-site. This may include, but not limited to, Boone County, Story County, DNR, and the Drainage District. ix. The developer is solely responsible for securing outside agency approvals for roadway improvements and storm water improvements. Ms. Lee stated that she is aware that there has been work invested to try to revise this project since the initial hearing and that drainage improvements would be made as a result of the project; however, she is not sure that the project is justified on that basis. MOTION FAILED: (2 - 5) (Nay: Minhas, Bowers, Lee, W annemuehler, Basmajian) ____________________________________________________________________________ COMMISSION COMMENTS: Ms. Minhas stated that she has been struggling in the last couple of months when reviewing projects such as these without having information about the number of proposed, approved and permitted units/bedrooms that will be available in the future as well as information on the City’s needs. Mr. Basmajian asked if there are studies that have been made that would assist the Commission in evaluating these types of projects. Mr. Diekmann stated that three years ago the RH Evaluation Matrix was created to use on a case by case basis. He stated that at that time current numbers were put together for the City Council. Mr. Diekmann stated that in the future the new Comprehensive Plan will give the Commission better direction on the expectations for land use needs. Mr. Diekmann asked the Commission in the future to let staff know what information they need; and if it is available, they will provide the information either in the staff report or in a memo. ____________________________________________________________________________ STAFF COMMENTS: Staff reviewed the tentative agenda for the meeting of December 20, 2017. ____________________________________________________________________________ MOTION TO ADJOURN: MOTION: (Wannemuehler/none) to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 8:42 P.M. _________________________________ ____________________________________ Debra Lee, Chairperson Lorrie Banks, Recording Secretary Planning & Zoning Commission Department of Planning & Housing S:\Planning.Dep\PLAN_SHR\Council Boards Commissions\PZ\Minutes\2017 Minutes\P&Z Minutes 12-06-17.docx